We're Live at Night Six of Town Meeting

There's a lot of thank-yous. Even some smiles. They're moving along and people look happy.

Josh Ostroff thanked Frank Foss, and Foss told him he was using up his time.

Ostroff response: "I had no idea they were going to applaud that long."

That drew some laughs.

By the way, Foss thanked the pages and said what a great job they do.

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9:34 p.m.: Chief Hicks spoke about an event coming up for Police Week on Thursday morning at 10 a.m.

I think Town Meeting is over, but now they're still talking. Not sure what's going on.

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Article 42 rescinding fees at Community-Senior Center.

Finance Committee does not have a recommendation.

Man is speaking. He is on Fin Comm. By raising article we've brought issue in front of people. He wants to refer to Council on Aging.

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9:23 p.m.: We've moved on to Article 41.

This motion was on in the fall, but an alternate motion passed. It limited something for the Selectmen. I need him to go about 10 steps back right now, but let's keep at it.

It passes unanimously, and that's what is important.

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Article 40 amending by-laws: civil fingerprinting.

This would allow the police to conduct state and federal fingerprint checks for people applying for certain licenses. This would include door-to-door sales, manager of alcohol beverage license, owner or operator of public conveyance, pawn dealers, dealer of second-hand articles, hackney drivers and ice cream truck drivers

Plenty of debate about this. There was a mention of civil rights, followed by someone who was offended by a mention of civil rights over the safety of 33,000 people.

Peter Goldin- mentions that all of these people have contact with people, our children. Says we should be mindful of oversight as a means of protection. Views article as constructive. Urges to vote for it.

Member speaking about voting yes. Fingerprinting more accurate than CORI. Urges yes vote.

An older gentleman shouts out "Move to question!" They keep going. This guy has become one of my favorites. Her does this every night. At some point he gets antsy and starts yelling move to question on every question. Later he'll shout out a motion to adjourn.

Several motions to questions. All those in favor to end debate. Lots of hands. Only a few opposed. It gets the two-thirds.

It and it passes by a majority vote.

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Spoke to firefighter Danny Hartwell in the hallway. He's the union president. He was very happy with the Selectmen's decision. He said he has a lot of respect for the decision. He said they hadn't done the research before and now they're going to do it.

20 firefighters were present tonight by my count for article 29 and article 30.

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8:49 p.m.: Article 29 Strong Chief

Financa committee does not have a recommendation.

Carol Glof makes a motion to refer back to Selectmen. It passes by a majority.

Article 30, the companion

Fin Committee has no recommendation.

Gloff makes motion to refer to Selectmen.

Mr. Yang wants to know if Selectmen plan on bringing this back to future Town Meetings.

She says they don't know. They don't have a plan.

Majorty votes yes. It's referred back to Selectmen.

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8:44 p.m.: Paul Joseph is at the podium. He is on the Economic Development Committee. We are still talking about article 17.

Joseph is speaking about how we should spend money to make money. He is talking about investment.

"We have an opportunity to invest or go home and put it in the mattress."

He doesn't think Natick can wait until next spring.

This will create income that will help residents in Natick.

He also talks about it helping everyone. He mentions rich history. He strongly urges a vote for this motion.

First motion is based on a member's motion- for referring to Selectmen. It seemed a little close. I was surprised how many voted yes, but it failed.

Lot of hands in favor of amended motion. Note: amendment was to increase the desire of them to try to get grants. Took out part where they'd return money if got grant, or something like that.

Motion passed.

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Town Administrator Martha White is talking about the Natick Center Cultural District. She's pointing out a bunch of stats that show arts and culture keep money local. I believe one stat stated that $1 for every $5 spent on arts stays local.

Natick Center was designated as a Cultural District, one of the first 14 communities in the state to earn this distinction.

This is encouraged to improve visitor experiences and create a higher quality of life for residents.

"There are lots of determined residents and business owners who are very high on Natick Center," White said.

Request is for $30,000 under jurisdiction of the Board of Selectmen. They would commit to a status report in fall. They would return money that they got under a grant from the state.

Moving along so far tonight. They're are waving readings.

Question: Will this have any type of synergies with the Morse Institute Library?

Foss not happy- Ms. Stetson, Director of the library was not ready near the podium or near a microphone to answer.

Her answer: "We see the cultural district as a great opportunity to dovetail..."

The gentleman who asked the question is in debate. He's talking about his understanding. Not sure where he's going, but I think he's almost there. He thought it's not just to benefit those businesses in that area, but entire town. Excellent point. He urges fellow members to vote in favor.

Kathy Coughlin to the mic- wants to make a motion. She wants to refer Article 17 (which is what we're talking about) to the Board of Selectmen.

"I am all for business development downtown and more of a nightlife," Coughlin said. "My objections boil down to a certain origin. There are certain laws that need to be followed when people want to bring laws, not just to TM, but also to boards. In order to avoid, I think we need to bring back to Selectmen and come back to this in the fall."

Coughlin said she thinks it was unintentional.

Foss asks Clerk Diane Packer if it was posted properly. She said yes. He asked if it was correct to the town counsel. Counsel said yes. Foss said the article was brought here appropriately.

Question: Why was amount reduced from $178,000 to $30,000.

Steve Levinsky is answering. He explains that they decided to step back as a natural good committee process.

Member Kathy Collins is speaking. She went straight to debate. She is speaking about voting against this article. She spoke about how they voted to hire someone to help with economic development so why not hire someone with this type of experience? She said it's like giving money twice for the same thing. SHe also gave a great example of averages because people have mentioned the averaging out. She said that if you burn one side of a grilled cheese sandwich and the other side is perfect it'll probably taste okay, but no one here is going to want to eat here.

Of note: Foss had to  use the gavel at one point as people were talking while Collins had the microphone. He's really taken charge so far tonight.

Mary Brown: "They're only thinking of the arts center and no one else, and that's not right."

Brown points out that they lowered the amount of money they asked for by a lot, so she thinks later on they'll ask for more. She feels strongly that the arts are the only thing they're thinking of. She mentioned a couple of dollar numbers that I believe were from some years not long ago. She said that some of the business owners were supposed to help with some things but that instead they had been handed things. She noted that the arts center got the building for just $80,000. She had many other good points. Brown may be up in years but she's certainly still as sharp as anyone here. She urged other members to vote against the motion.

Peter Goldin is speaking. He is involved with tourism in MetroWest and is talking about how the arts lead to the many historic places in Natick. Some of the examples he's giving are very interesting. He's now discussing U.S. history, the military long ago and 700 Natickites fighting in the Civil War.

Goldin tied the history information he spoke about in with the arts and talked about how the arts really lead to these other things and give a look into the past (my words, not his).

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Good evening everyone. Welcome to Town Meeting.

Tonight's meeting began with some announcements, including one telling people about the events this coming Saturday at Natick Labs that Natick Patch reported yesterday.

Moderator Frank Foss also announced that members are not allowed to talk bad about other members here or elsewhere.

Josh Ostroff made a motion (or something like that) regarding municipal bonds and their tax-free status. I didn't quite follow, but I guess right now bonds used for schools, libraries and other things are not taxed and the federal government wants to begin taxing them. His motion is well-liked and passed.

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We'll be bringing you Town Meeting live beginning at 7:30 p.m. from the Natick High School auditorium.

Bookmark this page to get up-to-the-minute information throughout the evening as Natick's Spring Town Meeting unfolds. Tonight is the sixth night of Town Meeting.

One article that will be discussed and should be voted on is Article 29 and Article 30, which is the companion. These articles relate to the Natick Fire Department's Fire Chief Strong Chief status. The passing of this article would move the control of the department from the fire chief and put it under the Board of Selectmen.

Stay tuned for tonight's meeting.